President Leonid Kuchma said that in spite of recent changes introduced in Ukraine's military doctrine, his country still wants to become a full member of the European Union and NATO.
Full membership in these organizations is still a key element of Ukraine's strategy, Kuchma said in an interview with Ukraine's Fakty newspaper published on Friday.
Under the president's July 15 decree, any mention of the country's preparations for membership in NATO and the EU was excluded from the country's military doctrine.
"These military doctrine changes, which have provoked such a broad political reaction, were not introduced on the spur of the moment, as some people have suggested," he said.
"These changes were prompted by a comprehensive assessment of a wide range of international policy factors, and therefore by our clarification of approaches to the foreign policy of Ukraine itself," Kuchma said.